When fires are just about burned or struck out, there are usually smoldering embers remaining that must be extinguished to insure against a subsequent flare-up and resumption of the fire. In many instances, particularly in the case of forest fires, sources of water or other firefighting liquids cannot effectively or conveniently be delivered to the locale by hose. In such cases, a portable supply of water must be carried to the scene and sprayed onto the smoldering embers to extinguish the same.
Portable pressure tanks or pump tanks with associated sprayers could be hand carried to the scene, but the same are bulky, heavy, and unwieldy, or of inadequate capacity, and require use of the firefighter's hands to carry the tank rather than leaving his or her hands free for performance of fire extinguishing activities. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service has issued specifications for backpack tanks to be used with hand-operated pumps for fighting forest and brushland fires. The tanks are made of metal, rigid plastic, or synthetic elastomer-coated fabric and are provided with straps for both hand carrying and backpacking. A filler opening is provided in the upper part of the tank to accommodate filling of the same with a firefighting liquid (herein referred to generically as "water"), and an outlet fitting is provided in the lower regions of the tank to accommodate gravity discharge of the water to a hand-operated sprayer pump o water wand. The outlet is preferably provided with a quick-connect coupler for facilitating rapid connection and disconnection of a hose that couples the pump or wand to the reservoir. When carried as a backpack, the tank allows hands free movement of the firefighter in the field.
It has also been proposed to provide a water reservoir in the form of a vest which can be worn by the firefighter to enable him or her to carry several gallons of water easily and conveniently into the field; the vest, like the backpack tank, including a upper filler fitting and a lower outlet fitting for detachable connection of a water wand or sprayer pump. Because the reservoir is formed as a vest, the firefighter's legs, arms and hands are free of encumbrance to facilitate the performance of firefighting functions.
The vest and fabric backpack tank offer significant advantages over the rigid tanks. They are flexible and collapsible; before filling, they can be transported in bulk quantities in their collapsed state to the scene of a fire; after filling, they are more conformable to the firefighter's body and are less cumbersome; as the water is drained from them, they collapse and become even less cumbersome; and they hold more water. Rigid tanks will conventionally hold about 3.9 to 4.3 gallons of water, while a fabric backpack of the same size will hold 4.9 to 5.5 gallons.
A water vest, on the other hand, will hold approximately 8 gallons of water, since the reservoir space encompasses the entire torso of the firefighter's body from about the waist to about the level of the armpits. The weight, totaling about 70 pounds, is evenly distributed over and carried by the firefighter's shoulders as well as the back, so that the additional water is made available without discomfort to the operator and without impairing the operator's freedom of movement. Also, the outlet fitting and quick disconnect coupler for the hose of the pump can be located at the front of the user's body rather than the back, where it is exposed for far more convenient access.
The concept of the water vest has been well received by firefighters, but all of its promise has not heretofore come to fruition. Too many of the vests previously proposed have leaked, have been easily punctured by projecting objects such as tree branches, and have burst under conditions of use. In fighting forest fires, the vests are frequently filled with water at the nearest available but nevertheless remote supply and then trucked to the area or areas where the water is needed. As the truck drives through such an area, and in haste to bring the fire under control, the filled vests are hurled off the truck onto the side of the road to be picked up by the firefighters as they are needed. Regretably, due mainly to delamination upon impact of the heat sealed margins of the elastomer coated fabric, many of the vests burst when they hit the ground, thereby wasting the vest, the much needed water, and all the time, effort and expense that went into bringing the water to the fire. Essentially the same is true of the fabric backpack tanks previously proposed.
It is the object of the present invention to provide improved, flexible and collapsible, portable water reservoirs to be worn by firefighters that will overcome all of the deficiencies of the prior art reservoirs and provide reliable sources of water substantially irrespective of the physical abuse to which the reservoirs may be subjected in use.